Greenhouses and Beer

Nathan Funke

Posts: 19

posted 4 years ago

So I've heard that there can be issues with mixing things like generators or RMHs and greenhouses in an attempted to inject more CO2. Especially since there is a chance for other chemicals like carbon monoxide to build up and for too much CO2, which could kill or through off ground bacteria and any beneficial insects I have in there.

My idea is to put my fermenting home brew beer vats in there. It might be a little to warm in there during the summer for where I live, but in the fall and spring I can definitely see an advantage of having a couple of those vats in there with their warmth and slow release of CO2.

Has anyone tried this? I'm really interested in finding out if this works well enough to try.

K Nelfson

Posts: 129

posted 4 years ago

I have heard that greenhouses need significant ventilation. That should take care of any CO2 problems that might crop up.

And in a properly built furnace, you shouldn't have any combustion products in the room---it should all go up the flue.

Adam Poddepie

Posts: 68

posted 4 years ago

1

I've used fermentation to invigorate a house plant before, worked quite nicely. It was rather small scale though, just a 2 liter bottle with sugar water and yeast, but still worked. I'm not sure how far you can scale it given that beer vats can take up a lot more room, but it's probably better than nothing. Best of luck!

Stephen Maturin

Posts: 5

posted 4 years ago

1

There is quite a bit of logic to that.

I would presume you'd be using a lager yeast for the cool season and an ale for the warm. And the liquid will create a nice addition to the thermal mass of the greenhouse, helping to stabilize temperatures. The CO2 release would be slow and predictable. You don't have to walk back to the fridge for a beer, and the byproducts of consumption can only help the plants.

Why would you put the beer anywhere else?

Nathan Funke

Posts: 19

posted 4 years ago

Exactly Stephen, I really think it would be a nice addition to the green house. I think I'm definitely going to try this.

Adam, I tend to ferment in 7.5 gallon containers. You get a lot all at once, but I've never really minded.

I wonder if you can make Kombucha the same way.

Nick Williams

Posts: 14

posted 4 years ago

Around here, it would be consistently too warm in the greenhouse to make a good beer.

Have you considered a compost pile instead?

Nathan Funke

Posts: 19

posted 4 years ago

Nick Williams wrote:Around here, it would be consistently too warm in the greenhouse to make a good beer.

Have you considered a compost pile instead?

Nick, do compost piles produce CO2 as a waste by product?

Nick Williams

Posts: 14

posted 4 years ago

That they do.

Plus they have the side benefit of providing a bit of heat for a greenhouse in the winter. I imagine you'd have to be careful about humidifying your greenhouse too much though...

julian kirby

Posts: 58

posted 4 years ago

You can do more than make beer! you can put an earth worm bin in the corner, a compost bin, meal worm bins, as big a rabbit hutch as you can manage, reptiles if climate permits, you can have friends come over and meditate among the plants and breathe deeply on them, YOU can meditate too. every PPM counts! If your green house was attached to your home , you could vent your CO2 to the green house, and their oxygen into the house.

K Nelfson

Posts: 129

posted 4 years ago

The compost is an interesting idea. Pineapples were produced in europe with double-pit compost-heated greenhouses. I have no idea if the net CO2 could change.

julian kirby

Posts: 58

posted 4 years ago

your just adding organisms to breath the plants waste gas. I do not know what the conversion rate of O2 to CO2 and vice versa through respiration. Because Nitrogen is also released as gas from the pile, I recommend adding Nitrogen fixing bacteria to all plant root systems, Azospirillum Brasilense can inoculate most, maybe all plants.
You may notice greener, thicker leaves; brighter, bigger flowers; denser fruit; and thicker stems from CO2 supplementation. Don't expect instant results from a worm bin or a compost bin, populations need to increase before respiration cycle really gets going.

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